Health Watch: How to best track your health

TIP OF THE WEEK3 tips to track your healthHow many steps have you taken today? Ten years ago, that question would have seemed preposterous. Today you can look at your watch and reply easily.

While it’s never been easier to track your personal health data, are you tracking your numbers effectively? To be sure, follow these tips from WebMD.-- Find your baseline. Do you know where you stand today? How much you sleep, eat and exercise? Many people think they do until they track it. Record your vitals for a week and you’ll start with real data.-- Focus your tracking. Once you know your baseline, narrow your tracking focus. Trying to track too much at once will only leave you overwhelmed.--Track with a plan. Tracking data without a plan is compiling for compiling’s sake. Lose weight, get stronger or lower your cholesterol: Find your goal and track metrics that show your progress.

SENIOR HEALTHSimple steps to be your best at any ageTo improve your physical and mental health and prove age is just a number, apply these five tips from Mayo Clinic today.

-- Find the perfect interval. High-intensity aerobic exercise actually reverses some cellular aspects of aging. It also enlarges muscles and increases energy levels.-- The benefit of brain games. A Mayo Clinic study found playing games decreased a person’s risk of mild cognitive impairment by 22 percent.-- Supplementing your health. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, supplements may be ideal for vegans and vegetarians or those who consume less than 1,600 calories per day.-- The importance of sleep. Review your medications with your doctor to see if anything is impacting your rest.-- Focus on your sexual health. Men should talk to their doctors about their lessening testosterone levels. Women may experience a similar drop in estrogen levels as well.

HEALTH CARETips to reduce your health care expensesHealth care costs: They’re in the news all the time. You also hear about them at your work or when you’re with friends and family. The comments are always the same: Health care is getting more and more expensive and it seems to be outpacing the money you make.

Being more selective in where you go can lessen those costs however.

According to The Health of America Report, from the BlueCross BlueShield Association, 29.8 percent of emergency room visits were for conditions that could have been treated in retail clinics.

However, the same research found consumers saved money on out-of-pocket costs by visiting retail clinics for routine services when compared to doctor’s offices and the visits were much more inexpensive than receiving the same treatment in the emergency room.-- Brandpoint